Day's log for Sunday, September 2nd, 2001 - Ingrams Bayou, AL

0845 - raised anchor and got underway

A lot of what I was passing now seemed run down.

Looks like the nautical equivalent to the variable signs seen on highways

0928 - passed SM 160

A nice place to relax ...

1020 - passed "My Tho" shrimp boat

1028 - passed SM 155

1115 - entered Mobile Bay

1315 - raised main and jib and secured motor.

I went past a huge Exxon drilling rig and several smaller oil production rigs nearby.

1345 - started motor

1350 - secured motor

1435 - passed #36 in Mobile ship channel

1521 - started motor

I saw this - which looks really familiar except that there are no rocks. Most of Mobile area geology is mud and sand

1550 - lowered main

1615 - passed "Stuyvesant", "Lucky Tack"

1616 - passed #52

1617 - passed "Justin Callais"

1625 - passed "Marathon"

1657 - passed "Ruby Gonsolin"

As you can see the amount of freeboard was pretty minimal. I was thinking the bow wave would wash over the deck ....

1705 - passed "Catalunya"

1711 - raised main

1730 - passed "Jadran"

1735 - diesel level at 8 1/2 inches below top

1740 - passed "Mr. T"

1750 - lowered main and jib

1900 - dropped anchor near "Little Sand Island" in the City of Mobile. This had a lot of crab pots but a clear area to anchor. The surrounding area was freight docks, loading and unloading cranes, warehouses, industrial plants. A lot of big ships including a Navy Aegis Class Destroyer were parked here. The Coastguard has its firefighting training ship here. They set this ship on fire and have teams put it out as part of training.

When I passed through except for a couple of workmen waving to me I was ignored. As I write this on Sept 23, I heard on the radio about increasing security in the port. I don't know what security I would encounter now but I would probably expect to be boarded.